Most people have ups and downs during treatment, but support is available. Some people find they can lead an almost normal life during chemotherapy. But others find everyday life more difficult.
During the 3 decades, the proportion of survivors treated with chemotherapy alone increased from 18% in 1970-1979 to 54% in 1990-1999, and the life expectancy gap in this chemotherapy-alone group decreased from 11.0 years (95% UI, 9.0-13.1 years) to 6.0 years (95% UI, 4.5-7.6 years).
Some chemo drugs cause long-term side effects, like heart or nerve damage or fertility problems. Still, many people have no long-term problems from chemo. Ask your doctor if the chemo drugs you're getting have long-term effects.
Patients who received chemotherapy had better overall survival rates than those who had no chemotherapy with 1 year OS of 52% vs. 9.5%, 2 years OS of 36.7% vs. 1.5%, and median OS of 13.17 vs. 5.4 months, p < 0.001.
The chance of the chemotherapy curing your cancer depends on the type of cancer you have. Examples of cancers where chemotherapy works very well are testicular cancer and Hodgkin lymphoma. With some cancers, chemotherapy can't cure the cancer on its own. But it can help in combination with other types of treatment.
If there's a high likelihood that chemotherapy may get rid of your cancer, that benefit may outweigh possible side effects. Some patients say they actually feel better and have more energy soon after starting chemotherapy because the symptoms of their cancer regress.
Based on the overall cohort, that included 905 chemotherapy-exposed vs 3390 chemotherapy-naïve patients, overall survival rates at 18 and 30 months were 76.3 vs 69.3% and 61.6 vs 54.3%, favoring chemotherapy-exposed patients ( Figure 1A ).
Although systemic drugs are the main treatment for stage IV breast cancer, local and regional treatments such as surgery, radiation therapy, or regional chemotherapy are sometimes used as well. These can help treat breast cancer in a specific part of the body, but they are very unlikely to get rid of all of the cancer.
Chemotherapy can be used at any stage of cancer, from IA/IB to IV. The nature of chemo varies according to the type of cancer the patient has. Doctors may recommend that breast cancer patients receive chemotherapy if they find early-stage tumors in the lymph nodes.
Common side effects
Chemotherapy can cause fatigue, loss of appetite, nausea, bowel issues such as constipation or diarrhoea, hair loss, mouth sores, skin and nail problems. You may have trouble concentrating or remembering things. There can also be nerve and muscle effects and hearing changes.
For most people the side effects were worst in the first few days after treatment, then they gradually felt better until the next treatment. Some said the effects were worse with each successive treatment. Most side effects don't persist and disappear within a few weeks after the end of treatment.
On average, chemotherapy accelerated aging by approximately 17 years of life span, with acceleration of 23 to 27 years for those treated with anthracycline-based treatment.
Patients may live for years following treatment for stage 4 cancer. Specific treatment options depend on the type and location of cancer, as well as the patient's overall health, but the goal is to try to slow or stop the growth of cancer cells, reduce symptoms and side effects, and improve quality of life.
Although chemotherapy has long been one of the most effective cancer treatments, sometimes tumors can grow, and cancer can spread during treatment. It may mean that it is not effective at controlling the development of the tumor.
This was nearly 10 years ago. Looking forward, in April 2022, Ed was declared to have “no evidence of disease” and remains so to this day. After surviving stage 4 Lung Cancer, Ed is determined to help others, so he has become an advocate, leading efforts to improve the lives of people diagnosed with lung cancer.
Stage IV. This stage means that the cancer has spread to other organs or parts of the body. It may be also called advanced or metastatic cancer.
The term stage 5 isn't used with most types of cancer. Most advanced cancers are grouped into stage 4. An exception is Wilms tumor, or nephroblastoma, a childhood cancer that originates in the kidneys. Stage 5 Wilms tumors are those that affect both kidneys.
When cancer is advanced, it means that it can't be cured. Doctors might also say that the illness is terminal. This means that it is likely to cause death within a limited period. How long is difficult to predict, but it could be weeks to several months.
Although there are no curable cancers, melanoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, and breast, prostate, testicular, cervical, and thyroid cancer have some of the highest 5-year relative survival rates. Cancer is a disease that causes cells to grow and multiply uncontrollably in certain parts of the body.
86% of patients alive at 3 months completed the Decision Regret Scale. Results combined the 2 top categories indicating the greatest extent of regret. By this criterion, 13% of patients (95% CI: 7.4% - 19.2%) expressed regret at the 3-month timepoint after starting chemotherapy.